2006 International Page

U23 DEVELOPMENT TEAM

The International Committee are planning to send an England U23 development team of three women and three men to the World Mountain Runnning Association Grand Prix race at Smarna Gora, near Ljubljana in Slovenia. The race is on Saturday, October 7. The course is 9km with 710m of ascent and 350m of descent (the course starts in the village and finishes on the hill top). Details of the course, including a map, profile and photos, can be found here

The preliminary plan is to fly from Stansted at mid-day on the Friday and fly back after the race on Saturday. The return flight gets into Stansted at around 18:30.

The team will be open to athletes aged 19, 20, 21 and 22 on 1/1/06. The age range has been chosen to focus on those athletes who are too old to compete as a junior at the World Trophy, yet, perhaps, too young to be sufficiently competitive internationally with the seniors to be selected for the senior World Trophy team (this will also be the case with the Europeans next year when a junior race is planned). The Smarna Gora race is the fifth race in the WMRA Grand Prix.

Selection will be based on known form up to and including September 23, with an emphasis on performance at the World Trophy Trial race on Snowdon on August 13. (See senior section for details).

A team manager will be announced in due course. Any queries will be dealt with at the Snowdon trial. Our preferred selection process is to use the trial, however, anyone not able to compete at the trial but still wishing to be considered should contact Neil Goldsmith or if he is not available, Alan Barlow.

World Trophy Trial

The trial races to select the English Teams for the World Trophy in September will be held in Llanberis on the 13th august, probably over the Snowdon course. The race is uphill only and will be run in conjunction with the Welsh selection race on a course which is representative of the world trophy course in Turkey. It is hoped that this will give a bigger field and a more interesting set of races. Details:

Trial races Sunday 13th August, Llanberis, Gwynedd from 11.30am

Registration at the Quality Hotel (formerly Royal Victoria) from 10.00am

Selection criteria:

Seniors. All eligible athletes wishing to gain a place are expected to compete and the selectors view the trial as the primary means of selecting the team. As a minimum the first two male and female runners will be offered places. The remaining places will be decided on current form and in addition performance in a specified European Uphill race such as the Schickeralm Berglauf, Telfes, Austria on 6th August, may be taken into account.

Any runners wishing to be considered for selection but not able to compete at the selection race must let Mark Croasdale, England Team Manager know well in advance of the selection race.

Juniors. All eligible athletes are expected to compete and the selectors view the trial as the primary means of selecting the team. As a minimum the first three junior men and the first two junior women in the trial race will be selected. The remaining places will be decided on known form up to and including the day before the trial. Any runners wishing to be considered for selection but not able to compete at the selection race must let Bashir Hussain, England Junior Team Manager know well in advance of the selection race